Man clocked at 203 km/h on highway: OPP

London OPP detachment

A fortnight from returning to the road, Const. Kevin Howe worries for himself and his fellow London area drivers.

Nearing the end of his two-year posting as media officer for the Middlesex Ontario Provincial Police division, even when driving in a civilian car, he’s enjoyed observing a gradual decrease in speeds since special penalties for stunt driving were introduced in 2007.

But he and his counterparts across the province are still cranking out news releases about drivers clocked at well past twice the speed limit, cutting through a field or riding an ATV with no helmet and three passengers.

All three of those stories, the latter two ending with impaired driving charges, surfaced just this week and they all fall within the big four behaviours police that kill the most people on Ontario roads: aggressive, distracted and impaired driving and unbuckled seatbelts.

Most recently, Howe reported that a London man was clocked at 203 km/h on the 402W at Westel Bourne in Middlesex Centre at 10:18 a.m. Thursday morning (May 8).

Randall Wilcox, 38, was charged under the stunt driving legislation meaning his 2013 Chevrolet Camaro was impounded and his driver’s licence suspended for a week.

The charge hasn’t been proven in court; Wilcox is scheduled to appear in London court June 2.

The OPP allege an 18-year-old man was clocked at 240 km/h on Monday (May 5) in a Nissan roadster on the 407 near Pine Valley Drive in Vaughn. He was charged with racing, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failing to present a driver’s licence (those charges haven’t been proven, either).

In December, police pulled over a Porshe allegedly racing at 233 km/h.

Under the Safer Roads for Ontario Act drivers convicted of racing at more than 50 km/h over the posted speed limit are subject to a fine of at least $2,000 and as much as $10,000 and a licence suspension of up to two years the first time.

The suspension can be as long as a decade if a second conviction comes within 10 years of the first, but the potential consequences go beyond paperwork: the forces at work in a head-on collision at those speeds would have a “catastrophic” effect.

“What drivers have to realize is at that speed you can’t react,” Howe said. “What if a dog or a deer runs across the road, or you cross the median? I’ve been to a lot of scenes in my career. I've had too many people die in my arms.”